State ladder: apprentice → journeyman → master
Nevada Board of Plumbing Examiners (NBOPE) — journeyman/master certification administered by the National Inspection Testing and Certification Corporation (NITC); contracting licensed separately by the Nevada State Contractors Board runs plumbing licensing in Nevada. Below: the exact ladder, the transfer doors into Nevada from all 50 states, the renewal and lapse lines, and the master-of-record rule for opening a company — every figure from the board's own publications, checked October 22, 2026.
State ladder: apprentice → journeyman → master Checked in part Checked October 22, 2026
Checked in part. Experience standards and the current exam fee/format are taken from the NBOPE's own certification application (Form 850-06, Rev. 02-12-26, administered by NITC) fetched on 2026-10-22. The certification (license) fee, the renewal fee, any lapse/reinstatement window and any reciprocity provision were NOT stated in that primary document and secondary sources conflict sharply on renewal cost ($40 vs $600), so those figures are null and the state is marked partial.
| The ladder | Nevada |
|---|---|
| Journeyman credential | Journeyman Plumber (NBOPE Certification) |
| Total hours required | 8,000 |
| Classroom hours | not published |
| Apprentice registration | Not required by the state |
| Exam | NITC for the Nevada Board of Plumbing Examiners (computer exams also offered at Prometric test centers) · $250 — Current NBOPE application (Rev. 02-12-26): the certification exam is based on the 2024 Uniform Plumbing Code — 50 open-book + 100 closed-book questions. Cost is $250 by computer or paper; taking the computer exam at a Prometric Test Center costs an additional $90 ($340 total). Older secondary guides citing $95/$140 exam fees are stale against the current Board form. |
| License fee | Not published |
| Renewal | Every 2 years |
| Continuing education | Not stated in the NBOPE certification application fetched 2026-10-22 |
| Master credential | Master Plumber (NBOPE Certification) |
Registration, in the board’s terms: Nevada does not license/register apprentices at state level. The NBOPE standard is experience-based: a minimum of 4 years in a state-registered, accredited apprenticeship program OR 8,000 hours of substantiated experience in the plumbing trade, proven by a notarized Affidavit of Experience from a current/previous plumbing contractor employer (W-2s and employer letters on letterhead are accepted alternatives). The application form sets no separate classroom-hour total beyond the registered-apprenticeship route, so classroomHours is null — the '320 classroom hours' figure in secondary guides is not in the Board's current application.
Master Plumber (NBOPE Certification): The journeyman base (4 years in a state-registered accredited apprenticeship OR 8,000 hours of substantiated plumbing-trade experience) PLUS 1 year / 2,000 hours of maintaining a current Nevada Journeyman Certification + pass the NBOPE master plumber exam (same 2024 UPC 50 open-book + 100 closed-book format, $250 / $340 Prometric).
The 2,000 journeyman hours must be worked while holding the Nevada journeyman certification itself — an out-of-state journeyman license does not substitute on the face of the Board's application.
Master exam fee: $250
Certification is renewed on a 2-year cycle, but no lapse/reinstatement window is stated in the NBOPE application materials fetched on 2026-10-22.
Reinstatement: Not confirmed on a primary source in this batch.
Past the line: Not confirmed on a primary source in this batch — verify with NBOPE/NITC before publication.
Nevada endorses journeyman licenses from: none. No reciprocity or endorsement provision appears in the NBOPE certification application: every journeyman/master candidate must document the experience standard and pass the Nevada (2024 UPC) certification examination. accepts is empty; if NBOPE publishes a separate endorsement policy it was not on a primary source fetched for this batch (state marked partial for this reason as well).
| Licensed in | Door into Nevada | |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Alaska | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Arizona | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Arkansas | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| California | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Colorado | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Connecticut | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Delaware | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| District of Columbia | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Florida | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Georgia | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Hawaii | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Idaho | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Illinois | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Indiana | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Iowa | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Kansas | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Kentucky | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Louisiana | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Maine | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Maryland | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Massachusetts | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Michigan | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Minnesota | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Mississippi | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Missouri | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Montana | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Nebraska | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| New Hampshire | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| New Jersey | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| New Mexico | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| New York | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| North Carolina | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| North Dakota | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Ohio | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Oklahoma | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Oregon | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Pennsylvania | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Rhode Island | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| South Carolina | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| South Dakota | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Tennessee | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Texas | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Utah | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Vermont | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Virginia | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Washington | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| West Virginia | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Wisconsin | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Wyoming | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
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The seat: Qualified individual / qualifying party under a Nevada State Contractors Board license (Classification C-1 plumbing and heating, or C-1D plumbing). An NBOPE journeyman/master certificate authorises the individual trade work; it does NOT authorise contracting. To pull permits and run a plumbing business you must also hold a contractor's license from the Nevada State Contractors Board (C-1, or the C-1D plumbing subclassification), which requires a qualified individual with journeyman-level experience (generally 4 years within the last 10 years), trade and Construction Management Survey (law) examinations, references, a background check and a contractor license bond scaled to the license's monetary limit.
Nevada's split authority is the trap most guides get wrong in both directions: journeyman and master plumbers ARE state-certified — by the Nevada Board of Plumbing Examiners (administered through NITC in Los Angeles/Las Vegas) — while the plumbing CONTRACTOR license (C-1/C-1D) comes from the separate Nevada State Contractors Board in Henderson/Reno. Holding only one of the two does not cover the other's work.
Run the owner gate for your situation →
Rules as published by Nevada Board of Plumbing Examiners (NBOPE) — journeyman/master certification administered by the National Inspection Testing and Certification Corporation (NITC); contracting licensed separately by the Nevada State Contractors Board and the statutes it administers, checked October 22, 2026. Board: https://nationalitc.com/files/galleries/Form_850-06_Rev_--_NBOPE_Plumber_Application.pdf
